Early $5 Brown Back from Pennsylvania to be Offered in the November Showcase Auction

This $5 Brown Back was issued by a bank in Brownsville, located in southwest Pennsylvania in Fayette County to the south of Pittsburgh. It is not just another example of this popular type issued by a multitude of National Banks that served Pennsylvania between 1863 and 1935.

Not only is it part of the first sheet of Brown Back $5s issued by the Second National Bank of Brownsville (Charter# 2673), as shown by its serial number 1, but this note is also one of the earliest examples of this popular type and denomination ever issued. Even though the Commercial National Bank of Cleveland (Charter# 2662) can lay claim to having circulated the first Brown Back $5s, this Brownsville note shares the same prefix and ornament as the Cleveland specimen placing it among the earliest issued during the beginning of 1882.

In fact, even though the National Bank Note Census does not currently list this note from Brownsville among recorded serial numbers, it will take its place as the third earliest surviving example of this type and denomination in the NBNC. For those who enjoy collecting National Bank Notes with a focus on Serial Number 1s or rare Brown Backs, this is certainly a significant opportunity, as notes with a similar background are rarely encountered at auction.

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